A Thundering Voice

 

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth,” and to the rain shower, “Be a mighty downpour.”

—Job 37:5-6

In the movie adaptations of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry can demand the attention of everyone in even the largest of crowds by placing the tip of his wand against the side of his neck and speaking in a normal voice. Through the magic of his wand, suddenly Albus Dumbledore’s voice is magnified to an ear-shattering level. All other talking stops immediately.

Public address systems have a way of making even the most timid speaker command the attention of a crowd. Once a speaker gains the attention of his or her audience, it becomes so much easier to present a message. That’s exactly what happens in the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post.

Elihu speaks to Job and his three friends. He shares with them some of the wonderful attributes of God. One of those attributes is God’s thundering voice. No one can talk over the sound that God makes when He speaks—though countless numbers of people seem to want to do that today.

When God speaks, we need to listen, carefully! We always need to hear what God has to say, even when the sin that pervades our lives may make it difficult to hear what He’s telling us. That’s why we need to set aside time every day to spend time reading and meditating on God’s written Word. By doing so, we have the opportunity of giving careful attention to what God may wish to say to us.

Let’s determine to listen to what God says. Whether He chooses to speak to us with the voice of thunder, or in a still, small voice deep within our hearts. Whatever God wishes to say to us is most certainly worthy for us to hear.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Proper Direction

 

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

—Isaiah 1:18

The opening words of the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post seems quite out of place in our current society. The whole idea that people might confront each other and, instead of fighting or using harsh words, might decide to “reason together.” At least from my vantage point, there is very little reasoning together going on these days.

When we consider that these words through the Prophet Isaiah actually come directly from God, the words become all the more amazing. This verse actually follows a somewhat longer soliloquy where God begins to share an important message with the people in the southern kingdom of Judah. The six verses from Isaiah 1:12-17 that proceed the verse at the beginning of this blog post read as follows:

“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”

This is clearly a call from God, asking His people to confess their sins, repent of those sins, and make restitution for those sins through obedience to His perfect will. This is what the Word of the Lord does: it calls us to action—an action in accordance with God’s divine and perfect will for us.

Today, in the United States of America, we need to carefully and intently read and heed God’s written Word. We need to meditate on what God’s written Word instructs us to do. Then, we need to faithfully and obediently do exactly what God’s written Word tells us to do. That, my dear ones, is the formula to turn our sinful and darkened nation around. We need to return to God and humbly ask for Him to set all things in the proper direction.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Bringing All Things Together

 

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

—Ephesians 1:9-10

Life often seems like quite a perplexing mystery. Just when we think we may have figured out what is going on around us, something will occur that turns us upside down. But, we can take comfort from the verse at the beginning of this blog post.

In writing to the Christians at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul speaks of God in a very special way. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that life is really not the mystery that they may have thought it was. In fact, Paul insists that God has made known to us the mystery of His divine and perfect will through His Son, Jesus. The terms for all of life rest with God. He created all things. He sustains all things. He controls all things. Everything in life proceeds according to God’s good pleasure.

As much of a mystery as life may seem to us, it is no mystery to God. At such a point when time reaches its fulfillment, God will bring everything and everyone—in heaven and on earth—together under Christ, who will reign as the head. These words are intended to give us assurance and comfort.

Every time I see an advertisement for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, I cry. That’s right. Whenever an advertisement comes onto the television screen showing these little children afflicted with cancer fighting for their lives, I begin to shed tears. Even as I am writing these words, I feel tears welling up in my eyes. It breaks my heart to see these little ones having to deal with the horror that cancer represents. Theologically and intellectually I recognize that cancer has come into existence as a result of the sin curse placed on Adam and Eve at the dawn of human existence because they could not follow the one and only rule that God gave them. It grieves me that these little children must suffer because of Adam’s sin.

At the same time, I recognie that God remains fully in control of all that occurs and that some day He will bring order to all things under the headship of Jesus. There will be no more sickness, no more death, no more poverty, no more heartache, no more sorrow, no more despair, no more mental illness, no more sin. I long for that day. I pray for that day to come quickly.

We who follow Jesus have the great comfort from knowing that in a day not that far away, all things will be resolved under the headship of Christ. We will see Him as He is. And, we will become like Him because Scripture tells us in 1 John 3:1-2:

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Servants of God

 

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

—Romans 13:6

I confess to you that when this verse came up on my list of “Verses for Each Day” I wanted to skip this one and find a substitute. I have never met anyone who really wants to pay taxes.

I can remember the chagrin I felt when I looked at my first real pay stub and took note of the taxes that had been withheld from my pay. My paycheck was quite meager and it was made all the more so by the deduction taken out to pay my taxes. At the very moment that I studied that pay stub, a political advertisement began to play on the radio. Immediately, my thoughts turned to what the politician was saying. “Hey!” I thought to myself. “You had better do the right thing, Mr. Politician. I pay your salary!”

Later, as I rode my bicycle home from where I worked, I noted the potholes in the road. I remember thinking that the road crew should fix those potholes pronto. After all, I pay their salaries! And, in that moment, I began to develop an attitude that has fueled my Conservative point of view for all these many years of my life.

As I stated in my blog post of two days ago, it is sometimes hard to think of governmental authorities as God’s servants—particularly when they do things or say things with which we do not agree. Nevertheless, Scripture seems quite clear. After all, the Apostle Paul is writing during a time when he lived under a government that was far more oppressive than the government most of us have lived under. If Paul can write these words in his circumstance, surely we can learn to accept these words in our circumstance.

Today, I invite you to join me in praising God that He is the One who ordains authorities and places them over us. Let’s pray for our governmental leaders—even the ones we do not particularly like, or with whom we do not agree. We do well to remember that our prayers have a way of blessing even those who might never bless us.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Competent to Serve

 

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

—2 Corinthians 3:6

One of the great blessings of the Christian faith comes from the fact that God has made all of us priests. By this use of the word “priest” I intend to mean one who ministers to the world around him or her on behalf of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Yes, I am keenly aware that God has called certain individuals to dedicate their lives to accept a special calling from God to serve and lead others in their Christian spiritual formation. Whether we call such individuals minister, pastor, preacher, priest, bishop, or even pope, we recognize that they have made a sacrificial response to God’s calling. Yet, such recognition does not dismiss the reality that all follwers of Jesus have a calling from God to minister to the needs of those around them because of what God has done for them through His Son, Jesus.

In writing to the Christians at Corinth, as stated in the verse at the beginning of this blog post, the Apostle Paul affirms that not only has God called believers to serve Him as His ministers, He has made believers competent to do so. “Wait a minute,” you may interject. “I’m not at all certaint that I am competent to minister in the way you suggest.&ldqo;

Let me assure you that God has given you every talent and ability you need to serve Him. God wants you to approach your ministry with all of the essence of who you are. He wants you to serve as His minister. There are people who cross the pathway of your life each day to whom only you can properly minister. All of your uniqueness—your personality, your abilities, your skills, your mindset, every portion of who you are—is used by God to minister to others.

Do you think you are an oddball? Do you think you are not handsome enough or beautiful enough? Do you have a raspy voice or is your voice pitched too high or too low? Do you have some handicap? Do you feel you are not smart enough, or clever enough, or cool enough?

None of these things matter. God has called you to Himself. He has revealed the great gift of salvation that He has given you through His Son. He has placed the Holy Spirit within you. And, for His very good reasons, He has called you to minister in His behalf.

As we go out into a needy world today, we must keep in mind the fact that God has called us—exactly who we are and exactly as we are—to serve Him by ministering in His name. What a blessed, blessed privilege we have to do so with great joy.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Established by God

 

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

—Romans 13:1

All across the United States today, people will go to the polls and choose Senators, Representatives, and other leaders. This year, of course, many have already voted by mail. As one who for many years—because of my disability—have voted by Absentee Ballot, I understand the privilege of casting one’s ballot by mail.

After voting by mail for nearly twenty-eight years, you may wonder why I am encouraging others to show up in person to vote this year. I suppose I am choosing to do this partly in protest against the way that some states are handling the expanded efforts to encourage people to vote by mail. I am keenly aware of the potential for manipulating the outcome of the election that voting by mail affords. I am also quite untrustworthy of the hyperpartisanship that has overtaken our political process. I want to make absolutely certain that my vote counts.

I have friends, Christian friends, who have thrown their hands up in the air and stated that they won’t vote because none of the candidates for office seem worthy. I can understand their frustration, even though as an avowed Conservative, I have been quite satisfied with the more conservative policies that have come out of Washington in the last two years—certainly not fiscally, but in every other way.

More so, the reason why I encourage everyone to vote later today stems from the Scripture verse found at the beginning of this blog post. In this verse, the Apostle Paul reminds his readers, who happen to reside at the seat of power for the Roman government, that we Christians have a responsibility to submit to governing authorities. Admittedly, it is easier to accept this verse if one agrees with what those authorities are doing. I had a particularly difficulty time living the reality of this verse during the twelve years of the last twenty-six years when our nation was ruled by those decidedly not conservative, because of my strong Conservative views.

If you have already voted by mail, or if you will go to your designated polling place today to cast your ballot, I invite you to join with me in doing so recognizing that this opportunity comes from God. He is the one who establishes authorities over us. That we have the privilege of helping to choose who will lead us is a great honor that our wonderful nation has given us because God has so established it.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

People of God

 

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

—1 Peter 2:9

Have you ever felt that you didn’t really belong? For just a moment, imagine that you find yourself in the middle of a crowd of people. Perhaps you have arrived to attend some social gathering. Everyone in the room seems to know someone else with whom they can have a friendly conversation. As you look around, you really don’t see anyone that you know. You sort of stand in a corner of the room watching others have a good time and feel that you really don’t belong.

That kind of scenario has happened to me many times over the years. Even when I may know some of the people in the room, I often feel that I don’t really belong there. That’s the problem the Apostle Peter tried to address in the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post.

Some of the Christians to whom Peter addressed his letter seemed to have an identity crisis. Most of them were Jews who had embraced the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This was a whole new experience for them. Heretofore they had lived under the constraints of the Law. Now they lived under the mercy, grace, and love of God through His Son, Jesus. Others reading Peter’s letter were Gentiles who previously had worshipped other gods, or none at all, and now were grafted into the vine of David through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

I think you can understand why these folks may have felt that they had an identity crisis. Those who had been Jews no longer belonged to their previous fellowship of Jews. And, those who had been Gentiles were now profoundly different than their fellow Gentiles who did not believe. So, Peter has written to assure them that they definitely do belong. They belong to God through Christ.

In the Scripture verse that immediately precedes the one at the beginning of this blog post, Peter writes:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And, as he continues, Peter declares:

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

How fortunate you and I are that we, too, belong to God. While once we were “not a people,” through the Lord Jesus Christ, God has irresistibly drawn us into His mercy, grace, and love. Now, we are a people—the people of God.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Not of Works

 

It is by grace you have been saved, through faithmdash;and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

—Ephesians 2:8-9

This verse offers a very powerful lesson for us. Please let me share what I hope will serve as a helpful illustration:

More than forty years ago, and over a period of many years, I accumulated an enormous amount of credit card debt. Almost all of that debt came about because I seemed compelled to help others by spending money to obtain things they needed. I did this for my church and other organizations to which I belonged. I did it for my friends and even for people I did not know well. I realize now that it was a kind of mental aberration where I was trying to boost my self-esteem by showing generosity to others. The end result was that I sunk deeply into debt.

Over time, and through the amazing grace of God, I was able to work my way out of over $100,000 in credit card debt spread across nine credit cards. As you might imagine, the interest payments alone were quite daunting. Nevertheless, God mercifully provided increases in salary and, more importantly, a new attitude toward my spending that allowed me to reduce my debt to zero and maintain it there ever since.

In the midst of this herculian effort, a check arrived in the mail from someone I had known in the past, but whom I had not seen in nearly ten years. This individual was known to be quite wealthy. The letter accompanying the check indicated that he was sending me this money because he had felt prompted to share in the recent sale of his extensive property holdings. He remarked that he had always appreciated a seminar that I had led at his principal company—an event that had taken place nearly twenty years before.

As you might imagine, I was stunned by the generosity of this unexpected gift. Here was someone who had no idea whatsoever of the financial challenge that I was trying to work my way through. He was someone with whom I had always had a friendly relationship, but whom I would not have necessarily considered a close friend. Yet, he had responded to some prompting and sent me a substantial gift.

I certainly did not deserve this amazing gift. He had paid me quite well for the seminar that I had provided those many years ago. He had no reason whatsoever to reach out to me at this time. Still, here was an unexpected gift that would help me pay down my debt even faster than I had imagined.

I wrote a very grateful letter to this benefactor, thanking him for his kindness and trying to express how timely his unexpected gift had been. I also bowed my head and thanked God, for I believed that it was very likely that God had prompted this man to act so generously towards me.

In the verse at the beginning of this blog post, the Apostle Paul reminds the Christians in Ephesus—and us, as well—that the salvation we have received from God has come to us as a precious gift of God’s grace. We have received this gift by the faith that God the Holy Spirit has generated within us.

We had nothing whatsoever to do with this gift. We did not deserve it. We did not earn it. In fact, nothing that we had ever done, or ever would do, qualified us to receive this amazing gift from God. Our salvation from the just penalty for the sins that we had both inherited and committed has come to us purely because of God’s unfailing and undying love for us.

As we begin another day, we should clearly praise God for His great love. And, we should willingly, even eagerly, share what He has done for us that others around us will know what God can do for them, as well.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Act of Worship

 

I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship.

—Romans 12:1

As a teenager, probably no other verse of Scripture was quoted as much in our youth group meetings than the verse at the beginning of this blog post. I imagine that the timing of my young life—growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s—played quite well into the reasons why our leaders chose to emphasize this verse.

I grew up in the time just before the great sexual revolution of the mid to late 1960s. Though they existed, birth control measures were not readily available to young people. Sexual experimentation that took place in those days was far more limited than it has become today. Church-going teenagers were constantly being urged to maintain sexual purety until they were married. So, you can see how this verse might play well into the strategy of youth group leaders who were trying to help teens avoid the shame of premarital sexual relations and the possibility of pregnancy outside the boundaries of marriage.

Of course, this verse means a great deal more than simply urging people to remain sexually pure. The Apostle Paul lived at a time where many sins of the flesh were quite commonplace. Here, Paul urges “Christ’s-ones” to willingly give the physical modality of their beings, represented by their bodies, over to God as living sacrifices.

Since certain religions required actual physical sacrifice unto death, Paul contrasts those horrible religions with the Christian faith that wants its believers to give themselves alive to God as a spiritual act of worship. How much more pleasing it would be to give oneself to God while still alive and able to obediently serve Him.

As we begin each new day, this urging of the Apostle should become a watchword for us. We should daily determine to give God our human physical modality as a symbol that we have subjected to His perfect will all of our four human modalities. In giving God the stength of our bodies, we also give Him our hearts, souls, and minds.

When we turn every aspect of our humanity over to the supernatural control of the Holy Spirit, only then can we begin to experience the maximum joy of full obedience to God. With God in control of our lives, we can go forward serving Him with the totality of who we are as human beings.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Withered Flowers

 

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

—1 Peter 1:24-25

It has become quite a cliche for some jilted lovers to send wilted, dead flowers as a parting gift to the one who has broken off his or her relationship with the one who has become jilted. To me, it seems like too nasty a dirty trick. But, the number of times the popular culture has encorporated this action into the storyline of television programs and movies indicates the nature of how this practice has taken hold.

I wonder if you or I would like to be thought of as a bunch of withered flowers? And yet, that is exactly the image that the Apostle Peter uses in the verse at the beginning of this blog post.

In the particular passage of Scripture in which these verses appear, Peter urges those receiving his letter to understand that God expects Christians to move toward holiness. In theological terms, we call this “sanctification.”

After God has revealed to someone that He has chosen that one to belong to Him and provided salvation through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son, Jesus, God intends for His chosen ones to move away from the godlessness of this sinful world toward the world-to-come where the main characteristic will be holiness. This is not something that we believers can do by ourselves. Rather, it is a lifelong process that is fueled by the Holy Spirit, who dwells within all humans who have acknowledged the gift that God has given them.

When Peter describes humans as grass that withers and dies and flowers that fall, he contrasts this temporal condition with both the written Word of God and the living Word of God, which stand forever. Peter is urging his readers to put aside all those things that are tied to the life and death cycle of this world and to cling instead to both the written Word of God and the living Word of God that lasts forever.

As we begin another new day, we will do well if we immerse ourselves in God’s written Word. The more we read, meditate, and learn about the God who has chosen us to belong to Himself, the more we will be able to choose to follow Him in obedience along the pathway of sanctification—that is, the pathway towards holiness.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Judging the Heart

 

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

—Hebrews 4:12

The writer of the letter to the Hebrew Christians scattered across the then-known world spends a great deal of time emphasizing what we might jusifiably call “right living.” If we are to experience the fullness of the Christian life, right living is a choice that all followers of Jesus must make.

In the verse at the beginning of this blog post, the writer strives to illustrate how important and how powerful God’s written Word is to the success of a Christian’s ability to move toward right living. The writer uses terms of military power quite familiar to the people living at this time.

The written Word of God is so powerful that it is like a sword that has been sharpened on both edges. It can penetrate to the depths of whatever it pierces. Just as such a sword will split bodily tissue and divide bone, muscle, and connecting tissue, so the written Word of God can divide the soul and spirit—that is, the human modalities of the emotional being and the spiritual being. Furthermore, the written Word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

In our current societal norms, we tend to emotionalize almost everything. We particularly emotionalize all matters that relate to our spiritual human modality. We accept the falsehood that all matters relating to spiritual things must have a huge emotional connection. This is simply not true.

Human spirituality exists separately from emotion. That is not to say that the spiritual modality—often referred to in Scripture as our “soul”—does not affect the other three human modalities: heart, mind, and strength. But, the very essence of our spiritual modality exists free from any anchor the other three modalities may try to attach to it.

Thus, the written Word of God has power to divide our spiritual modality from any adverse connection to the other three human modalities that may hinder Christian spiritual formation and development. Unlike the characterizations that our society may try to espouse, our spiritual connection to God exists in the supernatural realm. Our God is a spirit and our connection with Him resides in the spiritual world—a world beyond anything that exists in the common daily existence of our society.

The written Word of God, the Bible, makes the spiritual and supernatural come alive. It does so by judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. In other words, we control our emotional human modality by allowing the spiritual human modality to regain and maintain its rightful control over all three of our other human modalities, but especially the emotional modality.

If this seems too weird, please keep remembering the words of Jesus found in John 4:24:

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Thoroughly Equipped

 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

—2 Timothy 3:16-17

As a firefighter in the mid-1960s, I can remember the efforts I took to make certain I always had the right equipment available to me when an alarm sounded and we had to respond. I even made a checklist that I would review before I began each shift:

• helmet
• boots
• bunker pants
• coat
• gloves
• flashlight
• pocket spanner wrench
• pocket knife
• self-contained breathing apparatus

Without the proper equipment at hand, I could not perform the various tasks I might face when we arrived at a fire.

In the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post, the Apostle Paul urges his son-in-the-faith, Timothy, to make certain that Timothy keeps himself thoroughly equipped in order to accomplish every good work. Paul explains that the way to do this is to maintain a very close relationship to the written Word of God.

Paul insists that all Scripture comes to us from the very mouth of God. Paul uses the phrase “God-breathed” to describe how God has inspired the various authors to write down His words.

In this lesson for Timothy, the Apostle continues to assert that the written Word of God is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness. Each of these specific uses of Scripture has a subtle, yet important, distinction.

As one who will lead a group of Christians as their pastor, or minister, Timothy must understand each of these distinctions. And, while Paul does not elaborate on these distinctions in this passage, he surely knows that, through past times of sharing, he has made clear to Timothy the various occasions where it will become necessary to use each one.

For our part, we need to remember this lesson, too. God’s written Word has great power and great importance in our Christian spiritual formation and development. We depend on the Bible to help us learn more and more about this God who loves us with His everlating love. By setting aside time each day to read and meditate on what God’s written Word teaches, we open ourselves up to become vessels of knowledge that we can then share with others who may cross the pathway of our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Timely Word

 

A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!

—Proverbs 15:23

Sharing a timely word offers a person one of the very best things that we can do. Sometimes the timely word consists of encouragement. Almost everyone responds positively to hearing someone else share with them some encouraging words. In the midst of a very discouraging day, hearing words of encouragement can lift a person out of despair and open the door that leads to hope.

In the Bible, one of the Apostle Paul’s companions on his missionary journeys was called Barnabus. That was not his given hame. Rather, it was a nickname that others gave to him because he was always saying something that lifted the spirits of those to whom he spoke. Barnabus means “Son of Encouragement.” How wonderful it would be if someone gave you or me that name. It would be truly significant to have someone call us by a name that acknowledged the fact that, when we spoke, we brought encouragement to others.

Sometimes, a timely word brings warning or admonition. Often, people don’t like to hear words of warning or admonition. I once had the privilege of attending a church where the pastor definitely had the spiritual gift of prophecy—not the ability to foretell the future, but the strong gift from God of declaring the truth of God’s written Word with Holy Spirit amplified power.

I looked forward each week to hearing the message that God had laid on this dear servant’s heart. But, I was definitely in the minority. Most other people in this congregation came to dislike, even despise, this pastor. Why? Because the words he spoke in his sermon each week had such great convicting power. You could not listen to one of his sermons without sensing the Holy Spirit pushing you to respond by making a change in the way you chose to live your life. Many people did not like that feeling.

Whether we give words of encouragement or words of admonition and warning, we do well when we allow God to nudge us to speak a timely word to the people God brings across the pathway of our lives. We can become obedient instruments of God’s mercy, grace, and abiding love whenever we speak timely words to others.

As we begin another new day, let’s determine to allow God to use us to speak timely words to others. Our own souls will become enriched if we allow God to use us in this way.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Let Me Help You

 

Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

—Galatians 6:2

I have always lived a very independent life. I suppose this began in childhood. As an only adopted child who lived in a neighborhood where no other children lived, I became quite used to doing things for myself.

The last twenty-eight years of my life have become quite a struggle, as increasingly I have lost the ability to do most things for myself. But, the beauty of my infirmity rests in the fact that God has given me this blessing, so that I would learn to appreciate the loving care that I receive from others. So, the verse at the beginning of this blog post has come to mean so very much to me, even though I am always the one on the receiving end of the burden bearing of others.

The hardest part for me, as I try to learn how best to depend on the burden bearing of others, has come from the frustration I feel when I cannot do things for myself that, for most of my life, I did mostly without even thinking about a particular task. Please let me explain through this illustration:

Several years ago, the church I attend moved from our previous location at a hotel meeting room to a different building. The church I attend began to rent space from another congregation whose service times fall earlier on Sunday morning, giving our church the ability to hold services at a more normal time frame, just before noon. In setting up our sound system during a work day, I became very frustrated and my frustration gave those around me the false impression that I was angry.

Our sound equipment resides in a large professional equipment case. The case contains four wireless microphone receivers, the sound system 18-channel mixing engine, and a digital recorder. At this new location, we plugged the output from the equipment in this case into one of the normally unused inputs of the existing church’s sound system. This allowed us to use our normal equipment without disturbing the equipment setup used by the existing church.

A problem arose when no one present during our workday knew how to turn on the power to, and operate the controls of, the existing church’s sound system. The power switch, controls, and mixing board for that system exist on a raised platform at the rear of the sanctuary.

If I had been able to climb the two steps up onto that platform, because of my 72 years of working with professional sound system equipment, I would have known exactly what to do to turn the existing system on and how to set the controls so our sound system would operate properly through that existing system.

But, I can’t climb stairs—even two short steps. In trying to explain to someone else what he needed to do, my frustration with myself came out in a way that offended a third person who was present.

When I was told how I had annoyed and offended the other person, I was heartbroken. I had never intended my frustration with myself to cause harm to someone else. I was ashamed and immediately placed a telephone call to the offended person in order to apologize. Fortunately that individual very graciously received my apology.

You see, the hardest thing for me to do is to contain my frustration with myself, so that I don’t cause others to feel offended. Far too often, people perceive my frustration with myself as anger. They don’t realize that I am not angry—I am only frustrated with my inability to do the kinds of things that, in the past, I have always been able to do without help from anyone else.

I have to coach myself in every situation to not allow my frustration with myself to cause harm. In other words, part of allowing others to bear my burdens requires me to accept their burden bearing with grace and gratitude. Instead of frustration with my inability to do things for myself, I must learn how to experience the joy that God intends when someone willingly extends their help to me.

Burden bearing comes alive as a two-way street. The one who gladly gives of himself or herself in order to bear the burden of another fulfills the law of Christ. At the same time, the one whose burden is borne by another must also humbly and thankfully receive that burden bearing as the true gift from God that it is.

I’m trying very hard to learn this important lesson. Perhaps in sharing my own struggle with you, it will help you to view the subject of burden bearing in a new way. At least that is my fondest hope for this particular blog post.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Best Desire

 

I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

—Psalm 40:8

Have you ever wanted to do something so much that the desire consumed you? I have. Please let me explain:

Beginning in seventh grade and extending all the way through high school graduation, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness required all teenagers to endure physical education class five days a week throughout the school year. That 50-minute long period each day always represented the most miserable time of the day for me.

In those long ago days, if some advertising agency ever needed the perfect example of someone whose person physical fitness hovered near zero, I could easily meet that need. I can imagine the poster or television commercial advertisement that ad agency might make:

“Want to live as long as possible? Don’t be like this fat slob! Go to the gym and become physically fit and you will live a long and fruitful life!”

In any case, during all six of those torturous years, I longed to wake up some morning with a new body, new strength, new innate ability, and a new attitude. I dreamed of becoming transformed from “Mr. Fat Slob” to “Mr. Handome Athlete.” I could almost feel the change in people’s outlooks towards me. Where once they laughed at my inability to accomplish the tasks required of those who were physically fit, I now had moved to the top of the chart. Football? Basketball? Softball? Gymnastics? I had become a star.

You may argue that had I really wanted to achieve all of that I could have done so. But, I didn’t and I couldn’t. I remained the fat slob who finally arrived back at the starting point twenty minutes after all of the other cross country runners had completed the race.

In the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post, King David expresses his overwhelming desire to do God’s will and also describes the solution to achieving that goal in a very few words. David shares that he is consumed with a desire to become obedient to doing what God wants David to do. And, David expresses his understanding of the way to achieve his great desire: to keep God’s law within his heart.

As followers of Jesus, David’s desire should become our desire. David’s solution to reaching the goal expressed by his desire should become our pathway in life. Just as David learns how to become one who does the will of God by keeping God’s law within his heart, so we should learn how to become obedient servants of God by keeping the truth of His written Word, the Bible, within the very core of our being.

The truth of God’s written Word should permeate every one of our four human modalities: heart, soul, mind, and strength— or, our emotional being, our spiritual being, our intellectual being, and our physical being. If we strive to make that desire become a reality, we will achieve the same kind of peace that King David achieved.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Joy Restored

 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

—Psalm 51:12

When we fall into the depths of despair, we do not need to stay in that deep, dark place. While we may often have no control over the circumstances of our lives that may drag us into the place of despair, we do have the ability to call out to God and ask Him to lift us up and out of the pit.

In the verse at the beginning of this blog post, King David finds himself in despair. Try as he might, David cannot turn the tide that rushes over him. The Prophet Nathan has come to David and disclosed that God has observed David’s sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of Bathsheba’s husband. David feels mortified and consumed by sadness at the sin he has committed. David mourns over his sin. And, as a result, David falls into a place of despair.

One of the qualities that makes King David a good example for us comes to the surface when we observe David recognizing that he has a way out of despair. David calls on God to lift himself out of the pit by restoring the joy that comes from the salvation that God has provided. We can do exactly what David has done.

When we find ourselves feeling dragged downward into despair, we can bow our hearts and heads and ask God to lift us up. We can pray the same prayer that David prayed. We can ask God to restore our joy—the joy that comes when we receive the salvation that God has given us. We do not need to stay in the pit. We have a way out.

In our darkest hours, God has given us this lesson from King David. We can ask God to restore our joy and grant us a willing spirit. Our ability to face the trials of this life comes from God, who gives us the strength and fortitude to bend our human will to His perfect will. When we do that, we can again feel our joy restored.

May God remind us of what He has done for David. As Stuart Hamblen wrote so meaningfully: ¹

The chimes of time ring out the news
Another day is through
Someone slipped and fell
Was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength
Your courage to renew
Do not be disheartened
For I have news for you

Chorus:
It is no secret what God can do
What He’s done for others
He’ll do for you
With arms wide open
He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do

There is no night, for in His light
You'll never walk alone
You'll always feel at home wherever you may roam
There is no power can conquer you
While God is on your side
Take Him at His promise
Don’t run away and hide

Chorus:
It is no secret what God can do
What He’s done for others
He’ll do for you
With arms wide open
He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do

 

______________________

1 Hamblen, Stuart. “It Is No Secret.” Santa Clareta, CA: Hamblen Music Co. and Duchess Music Corp., 1950.

Please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

True Delight

 

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

—Psalm 37:4

Have you ever felt delight? Maybe you remember some time in your childhood when your parents gave you a special gift. You opened the package and felt such gratitude that a big smile of surprise creased your face and an expression of great joy escaped from your lips.

I remember one Christmas when I had asked for a very special toy. The toy was a robot sitting on top of a car. I could move the helmet on the robot’s head forward and underneath were buttons I could slide up or down in order to control the pattern the car would follow when I turned on the power switch. The robot sitting on the car was about 12-inches tall and the car was probably 7-inches wide and 15-inches long. So, this was a rather large toy.

Because we were quite poor, I later had a strong sense that my parents had saved over a very long period of time so that they could buy this toy for me. I look back on that experience from a vantage point of 72 years later with a certain amazement that my parents loved me so much that they would make such a sacrifice.

Even more, when I think back over all the days of my life, I feel enormous gratitude that God loved me so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to become a human, to suffer on the cross of Calvary, to die, and to rise again, so that in Christ”s suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension He has redeemed me—paid the penalty for my sins and given me an eternal home in heaven.

As if that great gift of God’s unfailing love was not enough, as the verse at the beginning of this blog post declares, God has taught me through the words of King David that if I delight myself in the Lord, He will give me what my heart desires.

Now I realize that this verse has a very clever meaning. On the one hand, it means exactly what it declares. But, it also indicates that if I delight in the Lord, He will place into my heart those desires that please Him.

In other words, in our obedience to God, He will transform our desires from ones that are rooted in our earthly, selfish mindsets into desires that honor Him and give Him glory. That, my dear ones, is a wonderful, wonderful reality. It is a reality in which we can and should live.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Pleasing Words

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

—Psalm 19:14

Please allow me to begin this blog post with a true illustration:

More than a decade ago, back in the days when I walked with two canes, I had decided to make a rare appearance at our nearby mall. As I walked slowly through a moderately sized group of shoppers, a young woman, probably in her early twenties, stopped as she walked toward me.

“Do you realize what a fat, ugly pig you are?” she blurted out. “You should stay home and spare us from looking at your fat, horrid body and ugly face!”

As you might imagine, I was startled. The very fact that someone I didn’t know would even speak to me in such a public place was a surprise. That her words and her tone of voice held such hostility was even more startling.

I didn’t say anything to her. I just kept walking slowly toward the store I had come to the mall to visit. But, her words haunted me.

I am very well aware that I am morbidly obese. I have been extremely fat since I was a young child. I inherited an endomorphic body type from my birth mother. As I have recounted on this blog previously, I had always been told my birth mother was so obese that she was able to conceal her pregnancy from everyone until the day she gave birth. So, I come by the tendency to be fat, you might say, “naturally.” As to looking “ugly,” it certainly is true that I will never be asked to pose as a male model for a fashion magazine.

I recount this story to illustrate how powerful words can become in shaping our thinking. In fact, I should not care one bit about what some woman I do not know said about me. In fact, instead of thinking very much about it, I should dismiss her observations completely. After all, she doesn’t know me at all. Apart from the little value her words might have to use as an illustration in a blog post, what she had to say should mean nothing to me. Yet, words do have great power.

The Scripture verse, with which I opened this blog post, shares a prayer of King David found as the closing phrase in one of David’s great Psalms. As with many Psalms, this Psalm 19 comes in the form of a prayer, in which David expresses to God a desire to have God control every aspect of David’s being, including the words that come out of his mouth. Since David realizes that the words he might speak come from deep within the core of his being, David also asks God to control the meditation of his heart. In other words, David desires God to place within the depths of David’s being the thoughts, wishes, hopes, and dreams that would prove pleasing to God.

I believe this is a prayer we should take to heart. Each day during this coming week, I invite you to join me in praying this prayer. As we start each new day, let’s do so by asking God in prayer, using these words of King David from Psalm 19:14:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

No God But You

 

How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

—2 Samuel 7:22

I once overheard this conversation between two individuals who sat next to each other on a four-hour cross-country plane ride:

“I must confess that I have never met anyone quite like you.”

“Is that so? And, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Oh! That’s a very good thing!”

I must tell you that I smiled as I listened to these two people become friends. What a lovely conversation. One person recognizes the unique qualities that the other person has displayed during their few hours of conversation. The other person receives that affirmation with a certain joy and thankfulness. This represents a truly positive outcome from spending several hours on what could have been just another routine flight.

On the one part, I must congratulate the first person for having the ability to perceive the value of the person in the next airplane seat. On the other part, I must congratulate the second person for offering enticing conversation that provoked such a positive response from the seatmate. Both parties deserve recognition for their contribution to this new-found and growing relationship.

In the Scripture verse that begins this blog post, King David prays a prayer of gratitude to God. David’s prayer follows a lengthy prophesy that the Prophet Nathan delivers to the King, on behalf of God. Nathan outlines exactly the many ways in which God intends to bless David, as David reigns over Israel. Quite naturally, in great humility, David prays his thanksgiving to God, in a most eloquent prayer.

In his prayer, David makes the declaration contained in this quoted Scripture verse. David acknowledges that God is great, that there is no one like Him, and that He alone is the one true God. David’s declaration is very much like the one I heard on that airplane, as two people became acquainted with each other and the first person declared:

“I must confess that I have never met anyone quite like you.”

As we begin this new day, let us ponder God’s unfailing love for us, thinking about all that He has done for us and continues to do for us, feeling gratitude that—through the in-dwelling Holy Spirit—God continues to lay out a pathway for our lives. It would be very well for us to give to God this same acknowledgement that King David gave. We can rightly say to God:

“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you!””

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Nonconforming

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

—Romands 12:2

Our society in the United States has become increasingly one that requires people to conform to norms dictated by those who believe they control everything—political leaders, social leaders, and cultural leaders. For the most part, this has become the exclusive domain of those elite individuals who think in so-called “progressive” ways. Of course, progressivism actually represents political, social, cultural, even spiritual contexts that move ever more deeply into a society, principally following the dictates of Karl Marx and his cohorts.

While few seem willing to declare it openly, through progressive teaching in our education system, including from pre-school through institutions of higher learning, young people get a strong push towards Communism and the unified state-control of all aspects of life. A majority of people, especially young people, miss the fact that this push destroys every aspect of the freedoms on which our national foundation rests. Instead of offering a “progressive”—that is, a forward, ever-improving direction—this philosophy will actually repressively doom our freedoms to obliteration.

In contrast to this political, social, cultural, and spiritual push within our society to conform, we find the Scripture verse quoted at the beginning of this blog post. This verse follows another very crucial instruction from the Apostle Paul that I will share in a later blog post this month. For now, let’s examine what this verse from Romans 12:2 instructs.

The teaching from the Apostle Paul seems quite clear:

• Stop doing what we have been doing!
  
  
• Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
  
  
• Become transformed by the renewing of our minds.
  
  
• As a result, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is for our lives.
  
  
• Once we do this, we will discover that God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect.
  
  

As you can clearly see, this teaching of the Apostle Paul completely destroys the direction toward which our current society has chosen to move. In place of every aspect of our lives controlled by a centralized effort of political, social, cultural, and spiritual elites, God intends for us to make full use of the freedoms that He has given us, and to make full use of our ability to surrender our selfish and flawed human wills to His divine and perfect will. He wants us to give ourselves wholeheartedly to Him.

As we begin a new day, let’s not lose sight of the fact that God has given us the freedom to choose this day whom we will serve. I have no idea what pathway you will choose. But, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and Him only.

 

_{Copyright © 2026 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}